II.  FIRST-CLASS LOVE
Many suppose that when Jesus told the Ephesian Church that He had somewhat against them, because they had left their first love, He referred to the love they had in their first conversion, as babes in Christ. But I have often felt that our Lord meant something more than that, and that the love He referred to was not "first" in the order of time, but "first" in the order of rank; meaning they had left the state of pure, ardent, perfect love. So, in examining the Greek, I find this impression of what should be meant by first love is confirmed.
There are two words in the Greek Testament for love; the one is philos, which signifies natural affection, and the other agape, which signifies divine love, which is the pure benevolence of the divine nature. There are also two words for "first"; one is mias which, as a general rule, signifies the first in time, and the other is protos which signifies, as a rule, first in rank. These words may not be used invariably in these senses, but that is the main tenor of their usage. And in that verse, Rev. 2:4, the Greek word is agape prote, that is, divine love of the first or highest rank.
This is the sense in which we have utilized the Greek word protos in our language, as when we say "prototype," by which we mean a model type, or a pattern, conveying the idea of rank more than the idea of priority in time.
Also, we say "proto martyr," by which we mean not only the first martyr in time, but a model martyr."
The Ephesian believers were among the best and holiest of all the early churches, and from Paul's epistle to that church we learn the very high order of their faith and spiritual discernment and fruitfulness. John wrote the Revelation over thirty years after the epistles of Paul to the Ephesians, and nearly a whole generation had passed away, and while the blessed Jesus recognized their works, and patience, and hatred of false doctrine, yet amid all their zeal, and orthodoxy, and morality, they had lost the deep, pure, melting love to Jesus which always characterizes the high water mark of holy love.
Hence, we learn from this word protos agape, instead of mias agape, that the love of a young convert, as a babe in Christ, however strong it may be, is not the highest form of love. A great many ministers, in preaching from that text, who do not know the perfection of love (themselves) experimentally, through the abiding fullness of the Spirit, give an erroneous interpretation to the passage, and represent that the love of a young convert because it is first in the order of time, is the best and the strongest form of Christian love. And so they deny any perfection of love, or any higher love subsequent to the new birth, and magnify the believer's infant love in justification as the grandest epoch in Gospel experience. And, instead of urging believers to a state of divine love, ten-fold stronger and higher than their first conversion love, they are always turning the eyes of old Christians back to their spiritual cradle, trying to realize their conversion over again, and singing the backward-looking hymn, "What peaceful hours I once enjoyed." The love that Jesus wants us to give Him is first class, first in rank, the very cream of the heart, the love of a spiritual bride, the protos agape, which outranks every other affection and every other degree of love which is possible to our nature.

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